this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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A Milwaukee woman has been jailed for 11 years for killing the man that prosecutors said had sex trafficked her as a teenager. 

The sentence, issued on Monday, ends a six-year legal battle for Chrystul Kizer, now 24, who had argued she should be immune from prosecution. 

Kizer was charged with reckless homicide for shooting Randall Volar, 34, in 2018 when she was 17. She accepted a plea deal earlier this year to avoid a life sentence.

Volar had been filming his sexual abuse of Kizer for more than a year before he was killed.

Kizer said she met Volar when she was 16, and that the man sexually assaulted her while giving her cash and gifts. She said he also made money by selling her to other men for sex.

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[–] dotdi@lemmy.world 312 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I am outraged, a plea deal to avoid life imprisonment? What the fuck did I just read?!

This guy trafficked, raped and tortured her, and other underage women. Police did jack shit. And she was supposed to be watching him just walk away? Grotesque.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 231 points 3 months ago (23 children)

Any jailtime is ridiculous. She's been in prison for 8 years. The judge had a chance to try and rebuild her life, but they gave her punishment for getting trapped in a bad situation. What's the issue, does the judge think she's going to go out and start shooting other rapists and traffickers?

[–] RestlessNotions@lemmy.world 123 points 3 months ago (11 children)

If this was how my cards were dealt, I would likely make it my life's mission.

This country certainly goes all in for cruel and unusual punishment.

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[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 44 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What’s the issue, does the judge think she’s going to go out and start shooting other rapists and traffickers?

The issue is that the patriarchy must uphold rape culture, and that the absence of justice for rape survivors is a feature of that, not a bug, and the courts can't have that power taken away from them.

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[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Who is the f’ing prosecutor?

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[–] venusaur@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don’t understand why she wasn’t tried as a minor

[–] Morcyphr@lemmy.one 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Most 17 year olds charge with murder, or some variation of killing someone, aren't charged as minors. That's not taking a position on this specific case, it's just a fact.

[–] venusaur@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They need to re-evaluate that especially in cases where somebody has been robbed of years of development like this one

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 134 points 3 months ago (3 children)

This lady needs to be pardoned or it's the origin story for a villain who has an understandable grudge against the justice system.

[–] APassenger@lemmy.world 74 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If I was on the jury, I'd nullify.

[–] Podunk@lemmy.world 33 points 3 months ago (2 children)

And they have processes in place to make sure you wouldnt be on that jury.

Vocal knowledge of jury nullification is grounds for dismissal.

Prior intent to nullify is basically perjury. Now you are both in jail

See, the system works! /s

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[–] DmMacniel@feddit.org 125 points 3 months ago (5 children)

her sentence absolutely should have been reduced further as that asshole not just raped but trafficked her, this is only fair for her to delete his ass.

The sentence that ass would have got would never ever bring her any justice.

[–] AshMan85@lemmy.world 112 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

His sentence might have been shorter then hers. The justice system is a joke.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 63 points 3 months ago (5 children)

He was white. How much could one jail sentence be? 10 years?

[–] acetanilide@lemmy.world 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If they even would have charged him. They took my abuser to dinner instead.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I hear you. My wife was put through the wringer (to put it mildly) so I understand. None of them ever experienced justice. I had an old girlfriend who was abused by her stepdad. No justice. That was all almost 40+ years ago. I hope we're doing better as a society now, but we still have a long ways to go.

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[–] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 44 points 3 months ago

The sentence that ass would have got would never ever bring her any justice.

Yes. If sex-trafficking rapists could get life sentences, that would be great.

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[–] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 100 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (12 children)

My mother was abused by her father. No one helped. Her own siblings, also abused, blamed her when she spoke out about it. She was then abused by my father. When the police came round after physical violence, they laughed at her.

I find myself not really expecting moral behaviour from humans as a group. That women must endure worse punishment for killing their abusers than their abusers would have received is unpleasant.

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 44 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm just a flyby idiot on Lemmy, but I am blown away that she was charged. The one article I read didn't go into a ton of details on th actual shooting, but she was raped and trafficked and shot her abuser. Did the DA pursue it because she is black?

[–] L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 months ago (7 children)

She traveled from Milwaukee to Kenosha of her own volition with intent to kill, shot him twice, burned his house down, and stole a car.

Going to someone's place uninvited with intent to kill that person is premeditated murder. Burning down a house is extremely reckless, others could've been easily caught up or injured in this rampage. Not to mention that the house fire likely destroyed a lot of potential evidence. Other victims might have more difficulty finding their own justice as a result, or worse if he had any accomplices their collaboration could be harder to prove.

Cool motive. Very understandable motive even. Still murder. Vigilante justice is no justice.

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[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 81 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dude would have gotten like two years for his SA but defend yourself from SA and its over a decade.

For all the lip service America pays to pedos being bad, its shown VERY consistently its real opinions on the matter.

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 45 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

We literally have child marriage in some states.

Please, tell people. We deserve to be shamed and judged for the gold plated shithole we are.

Also, we are extremely weird, backwards, and prudish about healthy adult expressions of sexuality due to our puritcanical roots, so we don't even have any good to go with the bad. We're a garbage place with a garbage culture all the way down.

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[–] MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 80 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

To preface, I am not defending the police or the piece of shit abuser. This was handled extraordinarily horrendously. Police even knew about the guy's crimes and let him off without a slap on the wrist.

The basis of my thoughts comes from this paragraph in the article:

Police said that Kizer travelled from Milwaukee to Volar's home in Kenosha in June 2018 armed with a gun. She shot him twice in the head, set his house on fire and took his car.

I don't know any info beyond what the article gives, but it sounds like at that point she wasn't being held captive and murdered to get away from her abuser. She actively plotted and had the freedom to travel and kill him. Unless there's something I'm missing, I don't think I could consider this as actively being self defense.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 71 points 3 months ago (64 children)

No but it was deserved justice for a crime that was going unpunished

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[–] EnderWiggin@lemmy.world 38 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That's essentially what happened here. She wasn't at risk any longer and the murder was premeditated. The prosecutor did their job here as they are supposed to, and it was sentenced as it should have been according to the law.

That being said, this is really why we have pardons, and I hope one is granted in this case.

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[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If it was a movie she would be the protagonist at least

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[–] JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee 24 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Trauma is a hell of a thing to deal with. Feeling unsafe as long as a person's abuser walks freely, even if they are far away, is VERY common. I'd imagine if it was someone who was repeatedly abused that'd magnify the trauma response.

Not saying she didn't murder that guy, but knowledge about the psychological effects of sexual abuse does give context to her actions. If she was feeling tortured by this unsafe feeling, like he could come back at anytime to hurt her again, and almost obesessing over it(trauma can do this to anyone) I can see why she did what she did.

It's not like mental health care and support is widely available to people here in the US. Shit is expensive, and that's if your insurance covers it...if you even have insurance. Add in trying to find someone who specializes in trauma care and it can get really overwhelming and discouraging. People give up on seeking help and spiral.

A lot of things could've prevented this. Things like easy access to mental health support, or I dunno...actually putting rapists in jail where they can't hurt more people.

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[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 67 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Regardless of your opinion on vigilante justice, can we all agree that this is what gubernatorial pardons should actually exist for?

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[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 64 points 3 months ago (8 children)

This is a failure on her attorney to make a good case. There is no way a normal person votes to convict here. There has to be something we’re missing as to why they agreed to a guilty charge.

[–] snek@lemmy.world 71 points 3 months ago (11 children)

"Four months before Volar died, police arrested him on charges of sexual assault but released him the same day."

Yeah maybe we are not told about how corrupt police is.

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[–] bitflag@lemmy.world 64 points 3 months ago (2 children)

She actively plotted and traveled to get revenge and clearly didn't act in self defense. While it's easy to be sympathetic to her story, her guilt seems difficult to deny.

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 50 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This:

Police said that Kizer travelled from Milwaukee to Volar's home in Kenosha in June 2018 armed with a gun. She shot him twice in the head, set his house on fire and took his car.

Whatever we think about this guy, it still was a murder.

[–] kerrypacker@lemmy.world 40 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ehhh it was a nice murder.

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[–] fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 32 points 3 months ago (6 children)

She accepted a plea deal. No trial no jury.

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[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world 62 points 3 months ago (30 children)

Alright kids.

There's this wonderful thing called "Jury Nullification"

That means if 1 juror refuses to convict then there is no conviction.

It is your privilege, right, and I daresay even duty to use this helpful tool when you deem it necessary. If you're called for Jury Duty on a case. Let's say non violent drug case. I don't believe nonviolent drug offenses should be against the law at all except in the case of something really bad like Fentanyl. So if I was called I would refuse to convict if the defendant was there for let's say Mary Jane.

But don't ever say those words. Don't allude to it. Don't discuss it with your fellow jurors. Don't Google it after you've been called. It's your secret. But it's a secret everyone should know if you get my meaning.

Now go forth and make the world a better place.

[–] Nomecks@lemmy.ca 35 points 3 months ago

She took a plea deal. No jury.

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[–] pyre@lemmy.world 60 points 3 months ago (3 children)

i don't understand how incredulous people are in the comments. is this your first time hearing any news? he was white.

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[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 42 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I can't find the statistic right now, but it's something like over 2/3 of women in US prisons (and likely elsewhere) are there for killing or otherwise harming the man who was abusing, raping, and or trafficking them.

Meanwhile a large majority of abusers rapists and traffickers walk away from their crimes scot free.

The purpose of a system is what it does.

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[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ide like to see Kamala start by pardoning this. Never going to happen but what a message it would send

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 49 points 3 months ago (1 children)

State crime not federal. The Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, would be the one to pardon her.

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[–] NastyNative@mander.xyz 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If he was convicted of raping her what would he get 7 months slap on the wrist? … we need change in this legal system cause its backwards designed that way.

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[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 27 points 3 months ago

It should be legal to kill any person who traffics you.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago (3 children)

On the one hand the guy was a scumbag. On the other she was away from him and sought him out to end him. One of the hardest things to accept in life is that your abusers often wont ever face any consequences for what they have done to you. Often you are punished for seeking it out and when someone does something like this it just gives the powers that be incentive to make a example out of you. After all many of them are similarly guilty and fear the same fate.

[–] FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 30 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I think anybody who is sex trafficked for a year should legally get a freebie. Anybody who is willing to abuse or sex traffic another human being should just be at peace with the possibility of being ended by their victims. Good thing I don't make the laws, I guess?

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[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 26 points 3 months ago

This woman needs a trophy and a monument not imprisonment. This will only encourage sex trafficking.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

Now the only thing to do is make the best of the circumstances. Thankfully she avoided a life sentence.

  • Spend your time in prison reading everything you can get your hands on, Edmond Dantes-style.
  • Earn your law degree or something else essentially before you leave prison.
  • Write an autobiographical book; publish.
  • Profit.
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